In what now seems to be the norm in Edo State, the traditional ruler  Udo Community, Patrick Igbinidu, has been abducted by unknown men.

His abduction came only hours after human rights activist, MikeOzekhome, was released by his kidnappers nearly three weeks after he and his driver were whisked away.

The traditional ruler, who is the Iyasere of Udo and an in law to the Benin Monarch, Omo N’oba Erediauwa, was kidnapped at about 7pmby a four-man gang while playing draft with his friends close to his palace in the community and forcefully taken away to unknown destination in an Audi car.

Chairman of Ovia South-west local government area, MorrisonOgunrobo, confirmed the kidnap of the traditional ruler, adding that security operatives have been drafted to the area.

Udo, a small community in Ovia South-West local government area of Edo state, is a significant community in Benin Kingdom, where all crown princes to the Benin throne must perform certain rituals before being crowned as Oba of Benin.

Meanwhile, Ozekhome who was freed Thursday morning has asked the federal government to grant amnesty to kidnappers in the country.

Recounting his ordeal to newsmen at his Lagos residence, he described his abductors as “angry and desperate well-read graduates” who have a network of cells across the country.

He said during his interactions with them, they told him that they were pushed into kidnapping due to unemployment and poverty but that they were prepared to sheath their swords and embrace a deal with government if they were assured of their lives.

“As a matter of extreme urgency, I want the Federal Government to immediately grant amnesty to all kidnappers and institute an amnesty programme for all kidnappers,” Ozekhome said.

He also urged the government to declare a national state of emergency on youth unemployment and infrastructure decay, adding that the security situation in the country was a national calamity which demanded urgent attention.

A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on Thursday ordered the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to recognise and deal with the two factions of the party in Anambra State.

The presiding Judge, Hyeladzira Nganjiwa gave the order while ruling on a motion filed by a factional chairman of the PDP in Anambra,Ejike Oguebego, praying the court to declare Andy Uba as the party’s candidate for the forthcoming November 16 governorship election in the state.

The faction also prayed the court to direct INEC and National Working Committee of PDP not to recognise, Ken Emeakayi’s faction of the party in the state, which produced Tony Nwoye as its candidate for the election.

Justice Nganjiwa in his ruling directed that the order should stay pending the determination of a suit.

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The judge also ordered the two factions to maintain the status quo and obey the order of a Federal High court in Akwa, Anambra, on May 31

The judge, after giving the order, announced that he was handing off the matter due to a petition he received from Ekem Ekem law firm, adding that he would inform the Chief Judge of Federal High Court and await his directive.

“I will not hear this matter again until I see my chief judge,”Nganjiwa said and adjourned the case to September 17.

The Adamawa Police Command said on Thursday that two policemen were killed in an attack by gunmen on a police station in Lala, Gombi local government area of the state.

The command’s public relations officer, Mohammed Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Yola that the gunmen attacked the station at about 9: 25 p.m. on Wednesday.

Ibrahim said that the attackers fired shots and explosives during the operation.

“The station was burnt because of the explosives used. We lost two of our men and one other sustain injuries,” he said.

Ibrahim added that the attackers escaped to Borno State.

The attack was the first of its kind since the imposition of a state of Emergency on the state by President Goodluck Jonathan in May.

Edo State in South south Nigeria on Thursday during the 3^rd EdoTechnology Day became the first in the country to launch an open data portal which gives access to public records and data.

Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole who launched the open data portal in Benin, said that introduction of Information and Communications Technology, ICT, into governance will make for more efficient operations and help reduce wastages and the problem of ghost workers in the public service.

“I have always wondered how in the 21st century, government after government buffet us with stories about ghost workers; it must sound strange to our development partners when local governments, state governments and federal government talk about ghost workers”, the governor observed.

He went further: “The truth is that we were dealing with monumental fraud in our salary administration such that clerks, junior service officers whose names are not printable in newspapers take advantage of our bulky documentary process  using analoguetactics to deal with digital solutions  and such is the huge fraud that has characterised our wage administration.”

Oshiomhole said that he was sure about where he was going when he assumed office which informed the setting up of an ICT unit, adding, “I am convinced in the task of good governance there is no way we can deliver without investment on ICT.”

“Today we haven’t gotten to where we want to go, but we are already reaping enormous benefit from the initial investment we have made”, the governor stated.

The minister for communications technology, Omobola Johnson, commended the Edo State government for sustaining the EdoTechnology Day and noted that the use of ICT can help a government improve the interaction between it and it citizens or between it and the international community.

Also speaking at the occasion, the representative the World Bank, Jeff Kaplan, said the launching of the open portal data is a major “milestone” not only for Edo State but also for Nigeria.

“As Edo State launches the open data portal, there are about three hundred governments around the world that are also doing the open portal. Around the world now open data is something important to investors,” Kaplan stated..

“As far I know, it’s the first in Africa by a sub-national government and I think it might be the first in the world to launch an open data forum which on day one has data from the sub-national government, the national government, civil society which and international development partners, in this case the World Bank. I don’t know of any open data portal which from day one has data from all of these,” he added.

The Edo State open data portal contains data sets on various aspects of public information including a list of tertiary institutions, school enrolment, population by age and sex, budgets, road contracts among others.

The Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has called on the federal government to come up with a revenue allocation formula that would ensure even distribution of the nation’s wealth.

The governor made the call at the opening ceremony of a two day public hearing on the review of the revenue allocation formula for the North Central Zone which was held in Lafia,Nasarawa State capital on Wednesday.

Al-Makura, who was represented by his deputy, Dameshi Luka Barau, noted that since 1992, the nation has been unable to come up with a new revenue formula that would reflect changing realities in the state and local government areas.

He expressed dismay at the level of imbalance in the current revenue allocation formula.

“It is no longer news that one state in the South-south receives more than the allocation of the entire North Central zone. This is not only unacceptable but regrettable since we are all contributors to the national wealth and therefore it sharing should be fair”, governor Al – Makurasaid.

Also speaking at the occasion, the chairman Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission,RMAFC, Elias Mbam, said the commission is set to review the current formula in line with paragraph 32 (b) part 1 of the third schedule to the 1999 constitution.

This empowers the commission to ” review from time to time, the revenue allocation formula and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities, provided that any revenue formula which had been accepted by an Act of the National Assembly Shall remain in force for a period of not less than five years from the date of commencement of the Act.”

Mbam pointed out that the review exercise will be the basis for a new revenue allocation formula amongst the three tiers of government.

While observing that the revenue allocation in Nigeria is very sensitive and has serious implications on the unity and socio-economic developments of the country, he enjoined stakeholders at the hearing to be patriotic in their contributions, adding that every section of the country should be considered equally.

At least six persons were killed and two others injured when gunmen attacked Gambiri village inGanjuwa Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

The state police public relations officer, PPRO, Hassan Auyo, who confirmed this on Wednesday inBauchi, said that preliminary investigations showed that the attackers were cattle robbers.

“Our preliminary investigations show that the attackers were cattle rustlers,” he said.

The director of Danga Vigilante outfit in Bauchi, Yusuf Hassan, whose member was killed in the attack, said they were alerted by some villagers that Gambiri village was being attacked and that by the time his men got to there, the attackers had fled.

“We received information that some gunmen attacked Gambiri village in Ganjuwa Local Government Area. Our men were dispatched to the area, but on reaching the place, they found out that the assailants had left,” Hassan explained.

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According to him, it was while conveying the dead and injured to the hospital that his men were ambushed and one of them shot dead.

Hassan said that the incident would not deter the commitment of the outfit in its fight against crime and criminality in the state and assured that the attackers would be brought to book.

He said those who lost their lives in the attack had been buried according to Islamic rites, while the injured were admitted at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, ATBTH, Bauchi.

Governors from 14 states in northern Nigeria have postponed the inaugural meeting of the proposed Association of Inland Basin States scheduled for Minna, the Niger State capital as a fallout of the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party.

The Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu, in his capacity as chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, had asked his colleagues in 13 others states to delegate their commissioners to attend the inaugural meeting of the proposed Inland Basin States Association meeting which was to fashion out a plan for oil exploration activities in north.

However, the meeting was postponed on Tuesday following what is believed to be information that the PDP chairman, Bamanga Tukur, may have directed governors of states loyal to his faction of the ruling party not to send representatives to the event.

The 14 states billed to attend the meeting were Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi,Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states.

At least eight of them comprising  Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Kogi, Kebbi, Taraba, Yobe and Plateau state are believed to be loyal to Tukur and might have received instructions not to attend.

Before the meeting was cancelled, the Niger State government had spent a lot on planning and preparation, with logistics already provided for the influx of government officials from other states

The cancellation of the meeting was announced Wednesday in a statement by the chief press secretary to the governor, Danladi Ndayebo, who said a new date for the event would be fixed later.

It is speculated that many of the states in the north are rich in petroleum resources but this has never been verified.

Only recently Kwara state announced that that it had crude oil in commercial quantity in Irepodunlocal government of the state but the claim was controverted by the Department of Petroleum Resources.

Before politics put it asunder, the Association of Inland Basin States’ meeting was to provide a platform for all the affected states to, for the first time, articulate modalities for realistically tapping the resources believed to be abundant in the Sokoto, Chad basin and Bida basin as well as the Benue Trough.

President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked nine out of 41 ministers Wednesday in the first major shake-up since he was sworn in 2011.

The Coalition of Northern States Political Party leaders has issued a seven days ultimatum to the Niger Delta militants to withdraw threats allegedly made on some its leaders, warning that the north has the capacity to respond to threats from any region.

Coordinator of the group, Alfa Mohammed, in a statement on Monday, listed those threatened to include sponsors of the splinter Peoples Democratic Party, PDP such as former Vice PresidentAbubakar Atiku, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, six northern governors and several lawmakers.

Leaders of former militant groups, under the aegis of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative on Saturday declared Abubakar unwanted in the Niger Delta region.

“It is unfortunate that Atiku who has benefitted so much from the Niger Delta oil is leading dissidents in a political coup against the first southerner to ever ascend the seat of president of Nigeria…and we are warning him in his own interest to stay off the region. He cannot be enjoying our oil money and at the same time use the same money to fight the owners of the oil,” the group’s president, Reuben Wilson, said.

However, the northern coalition group says it will not fold its arms and allow the militant to rubbish it leaders.

“Although, the issues at stake are purely the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, affairs, we can’t fold our hands and be watching some un-cultured militant groups threaten, rubbish and black mail our courageous and illustrious leaders,” the group said.

The coalition added: “the north is not lacking the capacity to react commensurably to any action the militants may take against the northern leaders”.

Meanwhile, the Movement for the Emancipation of  the Niger Delta, MEND, has distanced itself from the threats on Atiku and others.

MEND, in a statement by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said the splinter group should ignor the “empty threats and provocative comments from idle political thugs parading themselves as ex-militants, as well as some so-called elders and tribal assemblies of the Niger Delta.”

“It is in the right of any detribalised, honest and qualified Nigerian, to aspire for the highest office in the land, to bring progress, peace, reconciliation and other dividends of democracy,” MEND said.

The group added: “It is also in order for a performing incumbent, to seek a legitimate extension of his/her tenure in office, as long as the peoples’ vote will count and the bid does not run contrary to any prior agreements reached within their party. MEND believes in honour and integrity.”